Doughnut-cooking machine



mwm.

J. N. JUDSON.

DOUGHNUT COOKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 3, |920.

Patented Sept. 19, 1922..

Permite sept. ie, reza.

unirse srars TOI-IN N. JUDSON, 0F OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

DOUGHNUT-COOKING MACHINE.

Application led May 3, 1920. Serial No. 378,399.

T0 all/whom t mary concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN N. JUDsoN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Oakland, in the county of Alameda and State of California,have invented new and useful Improvements in DoughnutfCooking Machines,of which the" following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a simply constructed, small,compact and relatively inexpensive machine which may be easily andcheaply operated to uniformly cook large quantities of doughnutsin acomparatively short time.

The invention possesses other advantages and features, some of which,with the foregoing will be set forth at length in the followingdescription where I shall outline in full, that form of the inventionwhich I have selected for illustration in the drawings accompanying andforming a part of the present specification. In said drawings I haveshown one form of the construction of my invention but it is to beunderstood that I do not limit myself to such form, since the inventionas expressed in the claims may be embodied in a plurality of forms.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the machine, showing partsin side elevation.

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the machine with parts removed, brokenaway and in section. to show the interior of the machine.

In the drawings, 3 designates an elongated cooking vat or receptaclewhich is supported horizontally upon standards 4. Mounted under andextending for the length of the vat is a gas burner 5. This burner isenclosed by plates 6 and 7 secured to and depending from the sides andends of the vats and to the standards 4. A flue 8 is connected with oneof the plates 6 and is arranged to carry off the products of combustionof the burner.

The vat is filled with cooking oil up to the level indicated by thelines 10. A suitable drain pipe 11 having a valve 12 is connected withthe Jvat 3.

Means for feeding doughnuts to the vat and for moving them through thecooking oil is supported in a skeleton frame 13.which frame is.suspended from lugs 14 that engage the upper edges of the vat. Thisframe extends into the vat through the upper open side thereofand may belifted with the above named means out of the vat when it is desired toclean the vat. Mounted in the frame at one end thereof is doughnutforming means including a chute or hopper 15 which hopper extends intothe vat and feeds doughnuts as shown at 16 into the oil at one end ofthe vat.

An endless conveyer 17 yconstitutes means for moving the doughnutsthrough the oil to cook them. This conveyor comprises rollers 18 and 19journalled in the uppei1 part of the frame 13 so as to extend below thelevel of the cooking oil. Mounted 011 these rollers are several wirecables 20 which work in grooves 21 in the rollers and are slightl spacedapart but arranged to maintain tie doughnuts submerged in the oil. Thelower runs of these cables are submerged. The roller 18 has a sprocket22, thereon upon which sprocket a chain 23 is carried. This chain ismounted upon a sprocket 24 secured to a shaft 25 in an upward extension26 of the frame 13. A shaft 27 is journalled in the extension 26 of Ythefra-me 13 and is driven by a pulley 28 thereon, which pulley is operatedby a belt 29 operated from a suitable source of power, not shown. Theshaft 27 carries a small pinion 30 which through suitable reducinggearing 31 drives the shaft 25 and sprocket 24 whereby the endlessconveyor 17 is operated.

An endless conveyor 32 is mounted in the frame 13 for the most partbelow the conveyor 17 and is constructed similarly to the conveyor 17,being made up of rollers 33 and 34 and cables 35. The roller 33 isdisposed below the lower end of the chute and has a sprocket 36 thereon.A chain 37 is mounted on this sprocket and upon a sprocket 38 fixed to ashaft 39 in the extension 26 of the frame 13. This shaft is driven bythe gearing 31 at such speed that conveyor 32 is moved in the oppositedirection to the conveyor 17 and approximately three times as fast.

the 4 The roller 34 of the conveyor 32 is mounti ed in line with theroller 19 at the adjacent end of the vat 3. The cables 35 extend underidlers 40 on the frame 13 at a point under the roller 19 so that theupper run of the conveyor at one end of the vat is inclined upwardly,extends beyond the conveyor and will carry the doughnuts out of the vatand drop them into a container 41 at one end of the vat.

The machine iso l erated as follows l The burner is llghted and the oilin the.

vat 3 brought to the boiling point. Doughnuts are thenfedinto the oilthrough the chute or hopper and will first sink until they strike uponthe upper side oft'he lower conveyor and then as they are carried for-Ward by the conveyor7 will, due to the fact that they have been madelighter as to specific gravity by the action of the hot cooking fluid,assume the fioating position shown at 16 in Figure 1. The conveyor 32 inbeing directly under the doughnut chute 15 prevents the doughnuts fromsinking too far into the oil and in rotating more rapidly than theconveyor 17, will quickly move the doughnuts under the conveyor 17. The

outer end of the conveyorthey come into contact with the vupwardlyinclined end portion of the conveyor 32 and are carried out of theliquid in the vat on said conveyor 32,l and drop into the receptacle 41as shown diagrammaticall in Figure 1. By having the conveyor be tsformed4 of spaced wire cables the oil will freely circulate around thedoughnuts and insure a thorough and uniform cookin thereof. As thevconveyor 32 moves t ree times as fast as the one 17 the doughnuts willbe very quickly moved outl of the tank as compared to their slowmovement while being passed through the oil. The doughnuts are fed intothe vat one at 'a time and the conveyor is of a su-Hicient an endlessconveyor for the most part submerged in said fluid and having one endeX- 'tending above the level of the iuid, means for dropping uncookeddoughnuts into the receptacle sothat the doughnuts will in sinkingcontactl with the submerged end of the conveyor and be moved forwardlythereby and means into contact with which the doughnuts are moved by theconveyor for moving the uncooked doughnuts submerged through the iuid toa point where the doughnuts `will contact with the portion of thethe-level of the liuid.

2. A doughnut cooking machine comprising a receptacle containing acooking fluid, means for dropping uncooked doughnuts into thereceptacle, means for moving doughnuts submerged through the liuid infirst-named conveyor which extends above the said receptacle, andmeanswhich moves the doughnuts into contact with the second named meansand which after the doughnuts have been moved through the fluid by thesecond named means operate to move the doughnuts out of said fluid.

JOHN JUDSON..

